Take This Quiz To Find Out If You're OVERLY Attached To Your Partner

Take this quiz to determine if you are overly-attached to your partner.

In The Ecstasy of Surrender, I emphasize that bonding with a partner is a natural part of getting to know someone and of falling in love. But getting overly attached to your partner goes beyond healthy emotional bonding and is disempowering.

When you truly love someone you’re not interested in possessing the person or keeping him or her in your clutches because you’re afraid of losing the relationship. Instead, you respect your partner’s autonomy and spirit.

Does your partner feel you are trying to control or suffocate him or her?

Do you feel you can’t live without the person?

How to interpret this quiz:

6-8 yeses indicate that you are extremely overly attached

3-5 yeses indicate that you are moderately overly attached

1-3 yeses indicate that you have a tendency to overly attach

A score of zero indicates that you have healthy emotional bonding with your partner.

An aspect of myself that I’ve made progress in healing is my tendency to get overly attached to men. During sex, I bond quickly and fuse with a man but I can’t un-fuse with him later. I start yearning for him and thinking about him constantly.

I am a sexual being so, after I haven’t had sex for a while, I can become needy compared to when I have an ongoing connection with a loving partner. Being in this position makes me (and many women) vulnerable to getting overly attached.

For instance, if I don’t hear from this man for a few days, I can get anxious and afraid of losing him or of being abandoned. It’s not good for me, and moreover, most men don’t appreciate this kind of response. So, I discovered how to enjoy passion from a more grounded place. Here’s how:

1. I learned that over-merging with a romantic partner without a pause can decrease the erotic charge.

One way I do this before and after lovemaking is to visualize my body developing roots into the soil like a tree. I’m still surrendered to and immersed in pleasure, but I also keep a fuller sense of myself intact later. I’m able to separate from him and more comfortably see us as separate beings.

3. After lovemaking or to deal with possessiveness in intimacy, I find it useful to meditate with my partner.

And then say to each another, “I adore you. I honor you. I release you.” This is a healthy way to bond while not excessively attaching or fixating. It produces a beautiful equilibrium of loving.

The solution to not becoming overly attached or possessive is to focus on strengthening your self-esteem while addressing and releasing fears, including the fear of abandonment, which can cause the need to cling. Working with a skilled relationship therapist or coach can be productive.

Also, you can practice the three tantric techniques that I described above. These will help you develop autonomy and grounding. Being willing to surrender the tendency to be overly attached to your partner in favor of healthily bonding will allow you to have more joyous and pleasurable relationships without the pain of obsession.

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Judith Orloff, MD is the author of The Empath's Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People. Dr. Orloff is a psychiatrist and an empath who combines the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality. She is on the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty also specializes in treating empaths and highly sensitive people in her private practice. To learn more about Dr. Orloff’s book tour schedule, and to sign up for her Empath Support Newsletter visit www.drjudithorloff.com.